Cadet Chilton
by the-east-hunter
Summary: It was a simple difference. He had turned to punch the others instead of sweeping out their legs, his feet were pointed the wrong direction to run. They caught him, and they brought him back. or In which Mike didn't manage to run away that day and still works under Kane as Cadet Chilton (fic does include pretty much all the characters)
1. In Those Small Infinities

**This fic… I write this fic knowing that it will never be immensely popular. This fandom has been dead for a long time, and will only proceed to get deader. If I am honest with myself, which I must be from time to time, Motorcity is never coming back. IT's just not something that can happen in the foreseeable future. So I am writing this for the future person who, like me, came to the party years too late and wanted something like this. This is for you, and I hope you enjoy it.**

 **Live Fast, Live Free**

It takes a fraction of a second for Mike's world to change forever. For his course to be permanently altered on this path he has been taking. For it takes that small sliver of time for his brain to process this situation as bad, and evil, and twisted, and it is during this small infinity that lies in between seconds that he looks at Abraham Kane's face and for the first time in his entire existence doubts his belief in the man.

It is his next step that will change it even more. A simple movement, hardly different from any other's he could take. When the man behind him warns him to stop, instead of sweeping his feet out from under him and running, Mike turns and punches him in the face. Of course, a practical way to deal with someone, except not so practical when there happens to be about a dozen or so soldiers around you as well.

His feet are turned the wrong direction to run away, and he becomes a flurry of punches and jumps and kicks, a vicious beast that is full and fueled by a sense of betrayal and loss and anger that comes from somewhere so deep that it is almost feral. But he is outnumbered, and a sorrow and regret makes his movements just a little too sluggish. One man grabs his wrist and he turns to retaliate, but there's already someone else grabbing his other, and two pieces of cold metal clamp down on the them with clear metallic cling. Two magnets pin his arms behind his back before a fist comes in contact with his face with a nasty crunch, but he barely tastes the metallic liquid that fills his mouth because he becomes distracted yet again by the sound of wrecking machine whirring to life.

"Finish the demolition!" A man yells, and the machine obeys. (Whether the machine was the electronic object holding the wrecking cube of the man inside controlling, Mike was no longer sure there was a difference).

The cube smoothly punched through brick and mortar.

"No!" The cry comes out of his mouth – desperate and broken sounding as the yells of screaming people assault his ears in a cacophony. Wails of desperation emanate from the building, but the cube merely swings back once more and hits again. And again. And again.

And Mike watches it all, is forced to watch it all, bent over in an uncomfortable way with an elbow jabbed into his back and an eye swelling shut. Tears stream down his face, and he tries again and again to break free, but there is just nothing in there anymore. His chest is hollow and empty and the fight in him must be lying forgotten on the ground because in that moment it was lost to him.

After an hour and a half all buildings – homes – are torn down and he is 'escorted' back to Deluxe.

oOo

His cell is definitely not how he had imagined it would be. His cuffs never left his wrists, but the magnets were deactivated and instead were attached to the wall through thick red chords that glowed slightly and gave small waves of warmth. It was dark and dimly lit, and his jacket had been taken away from him. Everything was white and blue. He used to love those colors so much. But right now all he could think of was the city full of colors and life and energy. Freedom emanating from it.

The sterile room paled in comparison.

oOo

"-after all I have done for him!" Julie's dad was on one tonight. He was angry, and she could tell as soon as she stepped in the room this wasn't a good time. She caught a glimpse at the screens in front of him. Chilton, Mike. The Prodigy. The Genius. The Favorite. She had never expected to see the word 'traitor' used to describe him, but there it was right in front of her. He had turned traitor after going down below and was being contained as top priority. It looked like there had been a lot of trouble subduing him at first.

Julie left the room quietly, deciding she would talk to her dad later, when he wasn't so busy… she had been saying that a lot recently. Mike had always been so loyal to her father, and dear old Dad had been guilty of talking about him – gushing about him – without meaning to, so she could only imagine what could have happened to make him turn traitor.

Julie looked out the window at the docks for the buildings, the ports leading to the underground standing out perfectly.

Maybe she could find out for herself.

oOo

It's about a week before Kane comes to his cell to talk to Mike. He expressed his disappointment at Mike's actions, and he knows it's silly, but Mike really does feel shameful. He can't just turn off his loyalty to Kane like a switch. In a way, he had become like a father to Mike, and disappointing him hurt. He told Mike that he was still there for him.

At the end of the conversation Kane walks close enough to Mike that he could be in danger of a punch and holds out his hand.

"Do you want to go back upstairs now?"

Mike looks at the hand, the familiar hand, and feels his own twitch. But then a city with color and freedom flashes through his mind and spits at Kane's feet instead.

Kane doesn't come back for a long time, and Mike can't decide how he feels about that.

oOo

The city is dark and dank and smelly and there are rats everywhere and Julie instantly regrets going down there. She's used to clean building and sterile ground, being able to walk and not having to fear tripping over random pieces of metal, twisted in unnatural ways. There are no people in sight when she gets there, and honestly she's too afraid to go and search anyone out. Junk it piled high, like tall imposing towers, and they give the impression that those who pass them does not return.

Julie goes back to Deluxe.

oOo

They don't feed Mike much – just enough to get by, and at this point he was starting to wonder what other kinds of foods tasted like – surely Kane cubes weren't the only form of substance in this world. He has the feeling that they had some other kinds of food down there, down in Motorcity, and he desperately wants to know something besides the bland taste and flavorless substance of the blue and white cubes.

The next day he counts – and double counts – the number of cubes. Mike assumes he won't ever get the chance to try different food if he starves to death tied to the wall in Kaneco tower.

oOo

She goes back. NOT because she's curious, just because… well… she figured that she should at least meet some people before she decides to condemn the entire city. This time she enters the jungle of metal and garbage, and this time the smell isn't quite so affronting to her nose. In fact, she could almost describe it as pleasant.

It's as soon as she makes her way out of the towers of unclaimed items that she sees she unintentionally has a great vantage point to look out on the city. It sprawls out below her, full of sparkling lights like their own special kind of stars that dot the ground. It's so full of color her eyes begin to hurt from looking at it. Red's that do her own hair shame, such a variety of blues that she didn't even know could possibly exist, and so many other colors that she eyes had never seen before save for when the sun set or in a rainbow after a rainy day.

Up above the sky is made up of cables and blinking lights, and roof that holds everything they need in order to provide life to the people here, a constellation of wires to compensate for stars that dot the ground.

She continues to walk, because for once this strange world that has been always been under her feet has caught her attention in a good way. There's an area of land that looks smoothed out – paved – probably for walking, although she didn't see why it needed to be so wide, surely the paths like the one she was currently one were enough for –

Her mental train of thought was abruptly cut off as she began to notice a humming sound in the distance. Julie turned her head to look around her, but she had no idea what was causing it… she looked down the paved pathway and her eyes widened when she saw several brightly colored shapes, little more than blurs, approaching where she was.

Julie rushed off to the side of the pathway, and whipped around just in time to see the blurs pass by. Time seemed to slow down, and for a single fraction of a second she could see every detail of them – the wheels pushing against the ground, intricate details that obviously meant something to people inside of the vehicles painted on the sides, each of them different sizes and proportions, and the _alive_ look on faces of the people inside, urging the vehicles forward.

And then just like that, they were gone and halfway down the road, far away from her, but Julie still stared at the place where they had been. A memory niggled at her brain, and it hit her. Those were… cars. But the barely had any resemblance to the cars her dad had shown her, or the few she had seen at car burnings – old clunkers that could barely move, dreary colors of gray and black and white. Those… what she had just seen… those were works of art.

Julie rushed down towards the settlements.

oOo

 **yeah, we're gonna cut it off there. Originally I wanted the first chapter to wrap up this entire introductory area, but it's getting longer than I had anticipated, so we'll go ahead and let it bleed into the second chapter as well :3 I hope whoever it is that read this and whenever it is that you read this has enjoyed this first chapter, and I truly hope you look forward to more of this au ;)**

 **~the-east-hunter**


	2. Decisions That Change Your Fate

**Sorry, more of the same kind of. It's pretty much more setting the stage, but I promise this is the last chapter or that. After this we go into full gear mode of actually telling the story, this is just wrapping up all the background information you need to know**

 **oOo**

The people turned out to be just as colorful as the city. They all wore clothing of a variety of colors and with just as many alternative styles, each person looking so unique to each other. She shifted uncomfortably, feeling like she stuck out in her Kane co outfit – the bright white and dull blue. Amid all the people a man wearing a dark black suit and sunglasses caught her eye and ushered her over. Julie's eyes widened and she pointed to herself, to ask whether or not he actually meant her, and the man just nodded. Curiously she walked over.

"My, don't you stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd like this." It wasn't a question but a statement.

"Yeah, I guess I do." Julie nervously brushed back some of her hair. What would someone from Motorcity do to her, a Deluxian? If her father had been telling the truth it wouldn't be anything good… but then again so far his information hadn't been correct on several layers.

"Hey, don't worry, none of us are gonna hurt you." He gestured to the crowd. "In fact, down here most people used to be in the same position you're in."

"Really?" Julie raised an incredulous eyebrow, even though he wouldn't be able to see it under her bangs.

"You'd be surprised how many Deluxe citizens who have woken up and realized their plight upstairs rush down here. The past doesn't seem to follow that many people down into Motorcity. Give it a few days – you'll get new clothes, try new things, and find your niche – everybody does." Julie wasn't sure why she was surprised, but the kindness of the man touched her.

"Thank you, I-" But then there was an explosion and their conversation was cut off. She whipped her head around to see smoke billowing up from somewhere deeper in the city. Julie turned to the man. "What was-" But he was gone.

"Don't worry about it too much." Someone in the crowd told her, and once again there was that kindness. "Rayon doesn't stick around for too long, especially during an attack; he's got a family to protect after all."

"A family…?" But the screeching of tires on asphalt grabbed her attention once again away from the others, and sure enough a car burst through some piles of garbage towards them, followed closely behind by a series of Kane bots.

The car was wide and low to the ground, a glossy black with red patterns all over it. Six tires and obviously built to be durable, even Julie could tell that much. It flipped around, driving backwards so it could face the Kane bots, a gun emerging from a hatch on top the car and began to fire at the small floating boxes. It managed to hit a few, and then flipped back around to once again tear through the city.

"Who was that?" Julie said, her voice full of awe. A citizen, an older lady with graying hair, turned towards her, caught one glimpse of her clothing, and gave a warm smile.

"Of course you wouldn't know, dear, I'm sure this is all quite a culture shock to you." She patted Julies hand. "That boy's from a newer emerging gang, if I remember correctly they call themselves the Burners. They've been talking a lot for youngsters, about trying to protect Motorcity. They seemed like good boys." The lady nodded to herself, and Julie looked in the direction the car had gone.

oOo

His wrists were raw. Raw and hurting and they _throbbed._ He had been struggling with his chains for a while now, but he didn't know if he had that kind of strength anymore. They hadn't fed him for the past few… days? He wasn't sure what a day was anymore, he just knew it had been long enough that his stomach felt like it had some beast inside of it, trying to claw its' way out. The door opened with a hiss. He didn't even look up.

"I'm sorry Chilton, you have no idea how incompetent some of the people who work under me are." Mike's head whipped up, Kane was walking into his cell, holding a platter of Kane cubes. "They were just supposed to hold you in here, not starve you to death." He put the plate down within reaching distance of Mike. Mike, in turn, looked up warily.

"How do I know-" Mike's underused voice gave out and he fell into a coughing fit.

"How do you know you can trust me?" Kane voiced his question for him, and then shrugged. "I guess you really can't. I realize that I've hurt your trust, but you have to understand – I only do what I do for the good of Deluxe, and I still believe that you know what that is.

Kane left after that, leaving the plate of food. After staring at it for about a second Mike reached forward and wolfed it down the cubes.

oOo

For Julie, things spiraled from there. She eventually managed to meet the Burners in person, well, at first she only met one – the one that drove the car. He was just barely taller than her, but he had well built upper body strength, and an explosive kind of personality. But he was fairly nice to her, and that was what really counted. There was a second seat in his car, behind the front one – the drivers area devoted to buttons of all sorts, a gear shift, and the steering wheel.

He took her to the Burner's base – what appeared to be an old restaurant of sorts that had been repurposed. There turned out to be two other Burners; Chuck, a blonde who let his hair fall into his eyes, tall and lanky and was apparently in charge of security checks, and Jacob, a man who she recognized as her fathers' old partner, who owned the restaurant, was the car expert, and fed the boys.

After some small talk, he took her off to the side and told her that he knew who she was – something she had decided was best to stay a secret, especially down here. She told him that she wanted to protect the city and people down here. He got a strange look on his face, told her she was a lot like her mother, and took her back into the main room.

Julie became a Burner.

Jacob made her a car of her own. A smaller car, he told her it used to be a police cruiser, which was yellow and black. She added her own goodies from Kane co to it, holograms and cloaking and the sorts. And she fought tooth and nail for Motorcity against Kane when she could, and the rest of the time she was upstairs in Deluxe, working on her internship, hanging with Claire, and getting what info she could.

She wasn't sure when she started cloaking her Burner clothes to look like Deluxe clothes instead of it being the other way around.

They found another Burner, a boy named Dutch who had escaped from Deluxe so that he could express himself. He took to the cars quickly, and in no time he replaced Jacob as their mechanic, customizing himself a unique car with speakers and a small pod like area for his driver seat.

They worked together okay, but it was never a perfect fit, Julie could admit that. They were close, but not too close, and they fought probably a bit too much. Chuck never went on runs with them, instead staying at Jacobs. Everyone had their own escapes, their own lives that the others didn't know about.

At Jacobs, an empty room waits to be occupied.

oOo

Kane continued to visit him, what Mike figured was about once a week. And eventually one day he stands close enough that Mike could punch him, and offers his hand.

"Mike… I want you to know that I still trust you, and I'm willing to earn back your trust." He says smoothly. And Mike thinks about the city down below, about the freedom and the color, and closes his eyes briefly (Kane patiently lets him take his time) and he lets go of that dream. Deluxe is his city after all.

He grabs Kane's hand.

oOo

 **Well, I hope you liked it, again I know it's kind of an underwhelming chapter, but I needed to make sure that I set up the situation well enough that we were all on the same page ;)**  
 **~the-east-hutner**


End file.
